Raspberry Chicken

Someone brought this to us when we had our baby and it was so yummy! I already made it again. It is great served with rice pilaf and glazed broccoli.

Raspberry Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts
4 T butter (or less)
¼ cup onion, chopped finely
6 T. raspberry jam
6 T. red wine vinegar
1 pint whipping cream
½ cup sugar

Optional: Marinate chicken in Italian dressing.

Salt and pepper chicken. In large skillet melt butter. Add chicken and onion, cook completely. Remove chicken from pan. Add jam and vinegar to butter onion mixture and bring to full boil- boil 1 min. stirring constantly. In a separate bowl whip cream and sugar. Stir into onion mixture. Return to a boil and pour sauce over chicken and serve.

*I substituted 1 cup fat free half and half (Land O Lakes brand) for 1 cup of the whipping cream and it worked fine.

Chex Caramel Corn

This is a fun and easy snack to make for whenever. But be careful it can be addicting!!!

4 1/2 cups of Corn or Rice Chex Cereal
4 cups of popped popcorn (one bag)
1/2 cup of honey roasted peanuts
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:

1- In large bowl combine chex cereal, popcorn, and peanuts.
2- In a small microwavable bowl combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and vanilla. Microwave for about 2 minutes or until boiling. Pour over cereal and mix well.
3- Microwave for 1 minute intervals for about 4- 5 minutes, stirring after each minute. Be careful not to burn it, just check in between each minute and decide when it looks well coated then stop.
4- Spread out on wax paper to cool. Store in a gallon Ziploc bag.

Salsa Verde

We are part of a fruit and vegetable co-op that lets us get all sorts of good stuff every other week from the local farmers market. This week we got a ton of tomatillos for free so I tried out a new recipe from allrecipes.com. It was super easy to make and I served it over enchiladas and quesadillas. We also just dipped chips in it. We thought it was yummy so I thought I'd share!

INGREDIENTS
1 pound tomatillos, husked
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 serrano chile pepper, minced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
2 cups water
DIRECTIONS
Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chile pepper into a saucepan. Season with cilantro, oregano, cumin, and salt; pour in water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatillos are soft, 10 to 15 minutes.
Using a blender, carefully puree the tomatillos and water in batches until smooth.
*I pureed everything in my food processor and it worked well. I also didn't mince the chile pepper and I used dried oregano.

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

My kids and I got a book the other day that mentioned making homemade butter. We decided to make it one night for dinner along with pancakes. Both were equally delicious. This pancake recipe comes from my sister-in-law Jenny.

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 C milk

1 egg

3 Tbsp butter

Sift dry, add wet, mix til smooth, cook on warm griddle.

Fruit Soup

This is my sister-in-law Tami's recipes. She grew up using it as a main dish but I come from a family with 5 brothers and fruit soup would never have passed as a main dish. I personally could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner and, with all the leftovers from last night, I probably will. The base is a tangy, orange juice-tapioca mix that compliments the sweet fruit nicely. It's also really easy to make.


5 C water
4 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
1 - 12 oz can frozen orange juice concentrate
2 Tbsp sugar

Place tapioca and water in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Cook until thick and tapioca is clear. Remove from heat, add sugar, dash of salt and orange juice. Blend, Cool. Stirring once after 15-20 minutes. Cover and chill. Add fruit with juices: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches, pears, red or green grapes, strawberries, bananas, canned fruit, cocktail fruit.

Fresh Blueberry Cream Pie

My aunt posted this recipe a year ago on our family website and I've been dying to try it ever since. I love blueberries and I figured they'd have to be fabulous in a pie. It turned out well and was not super-sweet which I really liked. My dad insisted on trying a piece before I went to supper club and he recommends it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This will have to become one of my new favorite summer recipes.

p.s. Please excuse the photography. My camera is...well...challenged, but hopefully that situation will be rectified someday soon. In the mean time, I am determined to take photos of the recipes I post and you'll have to live with some less-than-lovely pictures.

Main Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream (fat-free or low fat works great)

2 TBL all-purpose flour

¾ cup sugar1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

1 egg beaten or egg beaters

2-2 ½ cups fresh blueberries

1 unbaked deep dish pie shell

Topping Ingredients (I doubled the topping) Combine and set aside

3 TBL all-purpose flour

1½ TBL butter3

TBL chopped pecans

Combine first 6 ingredients; beat about 5 minutes at medium speed until smooth. Fold in blueberries. Pour into pie shell and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with topping. Bake for an additional 10 minutes. Chill 2 hours before serving.ENJOY!

July Supper Club

Supper Club last night was great! For all of you who couldn't make it we really missed you and thank you to all of you who could come. Our theme was salads and desserts and we definitely had plenty. I don't know about the rest of you, but it took me awhile to fall asleep thanks to that nice sugar buzz. Paige was an excellent host and it was so fun to see her home and talk with you all until late into the night! Please post your recipes as soon as you get a chance. And if you make anything yummy during the weeks to come post that too!! Also, add labels (at the bottom of the screen) to your posts so we can organize things easily and make sure you press publish post!

I hope you don't mind but there may be some periodic color/format changing of the website. If you have an oppinion, well...okay I'd love to hear it. Thanks for all your ideas and recipes!

Broccoli Quiche

This recipe is straight from The Joy of Cooking, but Megan and Cissy wanted me to write it down, so here it is.

Prepare and bake pate brisee (I use Martha Stewart's recipe for the food processor) in a two-piece tart pan and glaze with egg yolk.

Beat together:
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 C. creme fraiche, heavy cream or half cream and half milk
s & p
pinch of nutmeg

Saute 1/2 red onion, chopped, and 1 clove garlic, minced in olive oil until soft. Blanch and drain 2/3 cup broccoli florets.

Spread onions, broccoli and 3/4 C. grated gruyere on the bottom of the pie shell. Cover with custard. Bake 375 until the filling is browned and set, 25-35 minutes.

French Market Soup

This soup is unbelievable. (Probably not what you'd make on a sweltering day, but really, really good.)

2 qts. water
1 qt. chicken stock
salt and pepper
2 meaty country ham hocks
1 bag of 18 bean mix
1 bouquet garni
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
2 c. chopped onions
2 c. chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large chicken breasts

Sort through and thoroughly wash beans. Soak beans 4 hours or overnight in enough water to cover beans by 2 inches. Drain and rinse the beans. In a stock pot, combine beans, 2 qts cold water, chicken stock, pepper, ham and bouquet garni. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and cook, covered, 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add salt, tomotoes (chopped, including all the juice), onions, celery and garlic. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken. Cover and cook on medium low for and additional 90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Soup should be thickening slightly. Locate and remove ham hocks, chicken and bouquet garni onto a plate to cool. Discard bouquet garni. Place all meats on a cutting board and carefully discard bones and fat. Dice meats finely and return to soup.

Freezes very well. Serves 10-12.

Smashed Peas

This is a family favorite -- delicious and very kid-friendly.

1 c. rice
2 T. butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
10 oz. package frozen peas
s & p
1/4 c. chicken stock
30 basil leaves (about 1 cup, loosely packed)
1/3 c. parmesan
1 clove garlic, minced

Prepare rice. Meanwhile, melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and stir frequently until quite soft but not brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add peas and salt & pepper, stir thoroughly with garlic and onion, then add broth. Cover pan and bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, not longer or the peas will be overdone. Remove from heat and transfer to food processor. Add basil (you can just do dried basil to taste if you don't have fresh). Mix for about 15 seconds, until peas are mashed and basil is chopped, but there should still be many whole peas. It should be lumpy. Combine thoroughly with rice and parmesan and serve immediately.

Thai Pasta Salad

Heat 1 T. oil on medium heat. Add 1/3 t. red pepper flakes, and let them brown a bit. Add 2 lbs. broccoli florets and 3/4 c. water. Cover and cook 6-8 minutes. Uncover and cook 2-4 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, cook 1 lb. whole wheat pasta.

Whisk peanut sauce:
2 T. oil
1/4 c. rice vinegar
2 T. peanut butter
3 T. soy sauce

Mix broccoli, noodles and sauce together. Top with 1 chopped scallion and 1/2 c. chopped peanuts.

Cranberry Salmon

1 full-length salmon
Cranberry sauce (jellied)
Salsa
Brown sugar
Lemon juice

(Sorry I don't have specific measures; I usually just mix until it tastes right. I'm sure any combination would be good.) Line a sided baking sheet with foil. Place salmon on sheet. Sprinkle with Wondra if preferred. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes, then spread sauce on top and bake about 10 minutes more.

Pork and Squash foil dinner

This recipe is for one -- expand as necessary.

1 pork chop, 1" thick
salt & pepper
3 slices acorn squash, 1/2" thick
1 T. buter
1 T. brown sugar
1 T. honey

Cut an 8x12 piece of heavy foil, place pork chop in center. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Lay squash slices on top. Dot butter in center of each slice. Sprinkle with brown sugar and drizzle honey. Fold up foil securely. Place packet on a baking sheet and bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes, or until chop and squash are tender.